Damages to Merritt schools dating back to March has cost School District 58 $7,000.
“And we’ve got over 112 hours of labour — that includes callouts, overtime and my time — responding to the alarms and doing the repairs and painting,” SD58 operations manager Archie Stogianos told school trustees at the May 13 school board meeting.
The vandalism resulted in broken windows, graffiti, garbage fires and even the theft of some laptops from the Kengaard Learning Centre.
As a result, SD58 hired a security company to do night patrols at schools around town.
Stogianos said that since the company started, five youth between the ages of 11 and 19 have been identified as those responsible for the vandalism.
He said the RCMP and school principals have been contacted and they are dealing with the situation.
The vandalism has declined since security patrols started, Stogianos said.
